Silent Hill 4 is the fourth installment of the Survival-Horror series of the same name. This edition stars Henry Townshend, who is possessed remotely by the town of Silent Hill and forced to face an undead serial killer and multiple hellish dimensions in order to escape from his own apartment.

Summary

Short summary describing this game.

Overview

Silent Hill 4: The Room is the fourth installment in the Konami Silent Hill survival horror series. The game was released in Japan in June 2004 and in North America and Europe in September of that same year. Silent Hill 4 was released for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox consoles as well as the PC. A soundtrack release was also made at the same time.

Unlike the previous installments, which were set primarily in the disturbed town of Silent Hill, this game is set in the fictional town of South Ashfield and is focused on the character of Henry Townshend attempting to escape from his locked-down apartment. He explores a series of supernatural worlds and finds himself in conflict with an undead serial killer.

Originally intended as a spinoff from the main series, Silent Hill 4 features an altered gameplay style with first-person navigation when exploring the eponymous room.

Characters

The games main protagonist. Henry awakes to find himself trapped within his apartment by mysterious crisscrossing, padlocked chains on his front door. He's also plagued by horrible recurring nightmares. After being trapped for some time, a hole develops in his bathroom which he can use to travel to horrifying "other worlds". Through his travels he meets the other characters of the game. There's not much info on Henry's background but its speculated that he may have been a professional photographer. He's an introvert that mainly keeps to himself, making very few acquaintances and being like a ghost to the other tenants of the apartment complex.

Henry's next door neighbor, whom he spies on regularly through a hole in the wall. He's to shy to directly speak to her, but finally gets his chance later in the game to meet her face to face. She had once met Walter Sullivan, when she was a but a small child and he was a troubled teen. She offered Walter her favorite teddy bear in efforts to cheer him up. This sparked a life-long memory of her in Walters mind, and he intends to use her as his 20th Victim in the 21 Sacraments ritual. Depending on the ending achieved, she is either killed by Walter to complete the 21 Sacraments ritual, killed before Walter and the failing of the ritual, or she survives to live another day, now hand in hand with Henry.

The games main antagonist. Walter was raised in an orphanage operated by the mysterious cult The Order, known as "The Wish House", however, he was born within Room 302, Henry's current apartment. He believed that this room was his mother, and that he must now complete the 21 Sacraments ritual to purify her. Thanks to other rituals he's completed, he is nearly invincible and has gained an assortment of other seemingly magical powers. He went on a brief killing spree, taking 10 people's lives in ten days (briefly described by newspaper clippings in Silent Hill 2), and was captured by law enforcement officers and imprisoned. Within prison he completed the Ritual of Assumption by taking his own life with a spoon, (also described in notes found in Silent Hill 2), thus creating the otherworld he now inhabits and controls.

Walter Sullivan (Child)

This physical manifestation of Walter's former self was separated from him during one of his rituals. He represents what little good is left within Walter's soul, but his particular role in all of this remains unclear. He is unaware of Walter's intentions and only wants to be with his mother once again. At one point, he saves Eileen from death.

A young woman that Henry meets towards the beginning of the game. She finds herself trapped in the mysterious subway portion of the Other world, and assumes that it's all just a bad dream. When she's met, she offers Henry what is assumed to be a sexual favor if he helps her escape. They are separated for a brief amount of time, and when Henry stumbles upon her again, she's been killed by multiple stab wounds, acting as Walter's 16th victim in the 21 Sacraments ritual. Henry must fight her ghost in the next area to proceed. In the opening segment of the game, if the player (as Henry) looks out the bedroom window upon the street, they can see Cynthia entering the Subway stairwell.

Enemies

Common enemies

Ghosts/bosses

Walter's Victims (Ghosts)

The One Truth

Sacrificed Walter

Walter Sullivan

Endings

21 Sacraments Ending

This is the worst of the 4 endings. Walter kills all 21 of his subjects, thereby completing the 21 Sacraments ritual. The entire apartment building is possessed, and Walter's spirit returns to it. Eileen Galvin is not saved, and Henry dies later in his apartment.

Mother Ending

If the player defeats Walter before Eileens death, the 21 Sacraments ritual fails, and Eileen survives. However, so does Walter. The ending does not flesh out the details after this event, leaving the player unclear on the outcome of the Apartment building, or Walter.

Eileen's Death Ending

This ending can only be achieved if all hauntings in Henry's apartment are exorcized. Eileen dies during the fight with Walter, but since Henry survives, the 21 Sacraments ritual fails and the apartment building is returned to normal.

Escape Ending

The best of all four endings. All hauntings have been exorcized, Henry and Eileen survive, 21 Sacraments ritual fails, and Walter is defeated. Henry and Eileen leave together to find a new home, leaving South Ashfield Heights happily behind them.